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Robertson v. North Dakota Workers Compensation Bureau9/5/2000
Appeal from the District Court of Hettinger County, Southwest Judicial District, the Honorable Allan L. Schmalenberger, Judge.
REVERSED AND REMANDED.
Opinion of the Court by Maring, Justice.
[ ] Delmar Robertson appeals from a judgment affirming a decision by the Workers Compensation Bureau denying him benefits related to a January 1997 heart attack. We hold Robertson was entitled to the presumption that a law enforcement officer's heart disease occurred in the line of duty, and the Bureau failed to rebut the presumption. We reverse and remand with directions to award Robertson benefits.
I.
[ ] Robertson filed a claim for benefits with the Bureau following a January 1997 heart attack and bypass surgery. When Robertson had the heart attack, he had been chief of police of the city of New England since August 1993. Robertson also had worked as a law enforcement officer from March 1982 through March 1986 and from December 1986 through February 1993. Robertson did not work as a law enforcement officer for eight months from March 1986 to December 1986 and for five months from February 1993 to August 1993.
[ ] When Robertson had the heart attack in January 1997, N.D.C.C. ยง 65-01-02(18)(d) (1995), provided a presumption that any condition or impairment of health of a law enforcement officer caused by heart disease was suffered in the line of duty; however, law enforcement officers were not eligible for the presumption unless they had completed five years of continuous service and successfully passed a physical examination which failed to reveal any evidence of the condition.
[ ] The Bureau informally rejected Robertson's claim for benefits associated with his heart attack, concluding he was not entitled to the law enforcement presumption because he had not worked as a law enforcement officer for five continuous years at the time of his heart attack and he had not successfully passed a physical examination which failed to reveal any evidence of the condition. After a formal administrative hearing, the Bureau adopted a recommendation by an administrative law judge (ALJ) that Robertson was not entitled to the law enforcement presumption, because he had not completed five years of continuous law enforcement service and he had not successfully passed a physical examination which failed to reveal any evidence of his heart condition. The Bureau adopted the ALJ's recommendation that, without the presumption, Robertson had not established his heart disease was work related.
[ ] On appeal, the district court concluded the 1995 version of the presumption applied, see fn.1, and that nothing in that version of the statute required the five years of continuous law enforcement service be completed at Robertson's last employment. The court decided Robertson had worked continuously as a law enforcement officer for five years from December 1986 through February 1993 and remanded to the Bureau for findings about whether Robertson had successfully passed a physical examination before 1986 and whether the Bureau had rebutted the presumption.
[ ] On remand, the Bureau issued additional findings in which it decided the law enforcement presumption did not apply, because, before 1986, Robertson had not successfully passed a physical examination which failed to reveal any evidence of his heart condition. The Bureau alternatively found the presumption had been rebutted by evidence Robertson's employment was not a substantial contributing factor to his heart disease. Robertson again appealed to the district court.
[ ] The district court decided Robertson had not exhausted his administrative remedies, because he ap
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